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The Anglo-Saxon Runes

Bewcastle Cross

Origins

The Malton Dress Pin

It reads the first six runes of the Futhorc

and "Glaye", a dialect variant of the

Anglo-Saxon word Gleaw

("quick-witted, wise, sensible or clever").

Used in:

thissig be(a)cn thun set(t)on hwa(e)tred waethgar alwfwolthu aft alcfrithu ean kuining eac oswiuing gebid heo sinna sawhula

"This slender pillar Hwætred, Wæthgar, and Alwfwold set up in memory of Alefrid, a king and son of Oswy. Pray for them, their sins, their souls".

The Bramham Moor Ring

The inscription reads: ærkriuflt | kriuriþon | glæstæpotol

The text is interpreted as a magic formula.

The Futhorc, also known as Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Frisian runes, was a 33-character runic system derived from the 24-character Elder Futhark (Scandinavian runes).

Its name comes from the first six letters of the runic alphabet.

Two theories:

- Developed in Frisia and then adopted in England.

- Brought to England by the Vikings, modified, and then taken to Frisia.

The Latin alphabet began to replace these runes on the 7th century, though some runes continued to appear in texts representing whole words. The Latin alphabet was also extended with the runic letters þorn and wynn.

Location: from North-West Germany to the Netherlands, England and Scotland.

Time: from 400-500 b.C. to the year 1000. The use of runes ultimately died out due to their prohibition by King Cnut.

* Gradually supplanted in England by the Old English Latin alphabets introduced by Irish missionaries.

Gold Coin from Harlingen, Frisia.

The runic inscription reads hama (a man's name).

Wooden sword from Arum, Frisia

Inscription: edæboda

"return-messenger"

The Thornhill Stones

Levels of meaning

eadred sete afte eateyonne

"Eadred set up this after the lady Eateya."

eþelberth settæ

æfter eþelwini deringæ

"Ethelberth set-up-this

after Ethelwini Dering."

igilsuiþ arærde

after berhtsuiþe

becun at bergi

gebiddaþ þær saule

"Igilsuith a-reared (raised) after (in minne of) this beacon (pillar-staone) at (on, close to) the barrow (how, tumulus). Bid (pray-ay) for the soul."

Table of Runic Futhorcs, Latin Ciphers and Cryptic Alphabets in St. John’s MS 17 folio 5v.

An early 12th century English manuscript copy of a work by the late Anglo-Saxon monk Byrhtferth

- Definite phonetic sequence: an alphabet

- Name for each rune: symbolic meaning

- The pictorial representation, itself symbolic.

They are rich in meaning, poetic and spiritual metaphors. This makes of them a magical system.

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